Bolsa Chica State
Beach
BOLSA CHICA STATE BEACH
is located on Pacific Coast Highway
in Huntington Beach, California, between Golden West Street
and Warner Avenue. State Parks Management District:
Orange Coast District County: Orange City:
Huntington Beach Telephone: 714.846.3460 or
800.444.7275.
Operating hours: 6
a.m. to 10 p.m. The entrance gates close at 9:00
p.m.
Watchable Wildlife
Site Camping Information Full hookups and pay
showers
Parking fee $10 peak season and $8 off season. Camping
fees for RV camping are for Premium lots: $39 per space peak
season and $34 non-peak season. Developed spaces are $30
each during peak season and $25 per space during non-peak
season
(call number listed to confirm fee and obtain camping information.)
Bolsa Chica State Beach is a popular place
for surf fishing for perch, corbina, croaker, cabezon and
sand shark. Also popular is in the summer is bare-handed
fishing for California grunion, a species that only spawns
on sandy southern California beaches. The beach extends
three miles from Seal Beach to Huntington Beach City Pier. A
bikeway connects it with Huntington State Beach, seven miles
south. Wildlife and bird watching are popular. Across
the road from the beach is the 1,000-acre Bolsa Chica
Ecological Reserve, operated by the California Department of
Fish and Game.
Bolsa Chica State Beach features bathrooms,
concessions with food, a paved bike and jog path, fire rings
for barbeques (first come, first serve basis), a paved
parking lot and sand beaches. Orange County Transportation
Authority OCTA buses stop regularly at Pacific Coast Highway
and Warner Avenue, next to Bolsa Chica State Beach.
Accommodations
Those who prefer a hotel at the
beach
can sleep in comfort adjacent to the beach at Ramada
Ocean Front
hotel. Parking at the
hotel is free. There's also a Jack 'n the Box next
door to the beach and a Super Mex across the street. For nightlife, enjoy Kozmos, a club
that features live bands.
Bolsa Chica
Circa 3209 BCE
As early as 6,000 B.C.,
it is believed that Hokan speaking aboriginal tribes
occupied the coastal region around Huntington Beach.
Artifacts from this group are scant. The sculpture above
depicts what local inhabitants likely collected and
ate.
There is more
information available about the Shoshonean Indians who lived
along the coast 1,500 years ago. Semi-permanent villages
were built near the beach and were used primarily during the
summer months. The tribes then migrated to foothills
of local mountains as temperatures dropped and colder days
set in. Probably related to Hopis, Comanches and Utes, they
moved around as hunters and gatherers.
One of their villages
called Lukupa may have been on the land later inhabited by
the Newland family. You can see the Newland's historic house
still standing near the corner of Beach Boulevard and Adams
Street.
The Shoshoneans had no
written language but passed information through song,
ceremony, dance, story-telling, petroglyphs and
pictographs.
Information from: Huntington Beach
, The Gem of the South Coast, by: Diann
Marsh
Hertage Media
Corp., 1999,
ISBN1-886-483-20-5
More information on the history of the Bolsa Chica mesa
and wetlands
